Hermione Granger Does NaNo WriMo
by siriusly lupine
Summary: Seventh year at Hogwarts is going to be boring now that the war is over.  Looking for a challenge, Hermione decides to participate in National Novel Writing Month.  Her story leads to some interesting events...  AU after OoTP.  Eventual SS/HG.
1. 30 Days of Literary Abandon

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the plan to have Hermione participate in this madness. Applies to the entire story.**

This was my contribution to NaNo WriMo this year (my third year) and the first time that I hit the 50k word mark in 15 days. It was a very fun story to write but it needs a lot of editing, so I will post completed chapters as I go through the editing process. The story is complete, so there will not be an excessive wait or any abandonment.

Hope you enjoy!

**Hermione Granger Does NaNo WriMo (National Novel Writing Month)**

**Chapter One **

**In Which Hermione Commits to Thirty Days of Literary Abandon**

September of the Golden Trio's 7th year was a joyful time – the pressure of their NEWT studies had yet to set in, Voldemort had been defeated and the wizarding world saved the summer before, and the Quidditch season had yet to begin.

Still, even in the relative peace of the beginning of another term, Hermione Granger was looking into ways to make her last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry more exciting, challenging, or interesting than it was going to be on its own. Of course, that meant that she was going to make it more stressful than it needed to be already, but when had that ever stopped Hermione Granger? After six previous years of action, adventure, and drama as a result of her friendship with Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, Hermione dreaded the idea of being bored.

Hermione was so far ahead of peers in both intelligence and maturity that the standard curriculum for seventh years at Hogwarts could practically put her to sleep. Had it been permitted by the Board of Governors and the Ministry, Hermione would have happily aced her OWLs in 3rd year and her NEWTs in 5th year.

As it was, Hermione completed the required reading and assignments for the fall term over the summer, even while they were busy fighting and defeating Lord Voldemort and his dreadful Death Eaters. The young woman was amazing in her focus and time management. If only the other students were receptive to learning a thing or two from her, they would all be doing much better in their studies than they were.

Due to the limitations in the current curriculum, Hermione was looking into something her Muggle neighbour mentioned at a barbeque at her parents house during her last visit home. It was something called National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. The concept intrigued the young scholar and she felt the desire to participate in the challenge.

The challenge consisted of writing a fifty thousand word novel during the month of November. Starting at midnight on November the first, one was to begin writing a story of their own design with the goal of reaching fifty thousand words by 11:59 the night of November the 30th. The official rules required that the story being written had to be fiction and have not been started prior to November the 1st. Preparation of characters, locations, outlines, etc. prior to November the 1st were at the author's discretion, but the actual writing was to begin on November the 1st, and anything written prior to then was not to be included.

Apparently, people all over the world participated in this 'Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon' and there were blogs, groups, things called write-ins where people met up to write together, and online support for the whole process. People all over the world linked up with one another to become writing buddies and provide encouragement, inspiration and support during the month.

Hermione even read one story about two people from either side of the pond that became writing buddies during NaNo and hit it off so well that they stayed in touch and eventually got married. It was quite inspiring, really.

Upon discovering this fascinating phenomenon, Hermione felt herself inclined to prove that she could not only make the goal, but go far beyond it as well. The whole spirit of the challenge and competition appealed to her.

During the month of September, once Hogwarts was back in session, Hermione spent her spare moments trying to think up a plausible plot line that she could legitimately carry through with during November.

Oh, how she wished that a muggle computer would work at Hogwarts! It would make writing so much easier! Writing everything out by hand was very time consuming, something her friends noticed very quickly.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny could not understand what she was working on already as the term had only just begun and very little was assigned by the professors so far. Hermione, of course, brushed them off and pretended that she was just working extra hard on her future assignments. Her friends just shook their heads and said she was batty. Brilliant, but batty.

They were used to that sort of over-achieving behaviour from Hermione after all those years. However, that did not stop them from nagging her to put the extra work down and join them for fun.

Hermione was relieved once Quidditch practice started in late September. She was able to devote her spare time to developing ideas for a story suitable enough to inspire her to write without having to explain herself to her friends.

Hermione spent her evenings sitting in her Head Girls room – which included a rather decadent settee in front of the fire that made for a very comfortable place to brain storm ideas – tossing out plot after plot.

A tale of a girl struggling with social anxiety as she worked her way through boarding school – boring!

An erotic romance between a pirate and a kidnapped maiden – cliché!

A vampire's struggle to change his ways – ugh, please!

A vampire/human teenager love story – Merlin no!

A murder mystery equivalent to a game of Clue – sounded fun, but Hermione knew that it would be a large undertaking for her first round of National Novel Writing Month. Perhaps she would save that idea for next year if she decided to compete again.

Her ideas were mundane at best and already over used by real, published authors. The one idea had merit but even Hermione could admit that it would be beyond her talents for her first round at this competition. She had to come up with something unique that would motivate her to write the story in record time. It did not have to be publishable, as she was not overly focused on that right now. Perhaps, if this National Novel Writing Month adventure was a success, she would look into competing again next year and worry about writing a publishable story at that time.

Deciding to take a cue from her own life, Hermione thought about interesting things that have happened to her and her friends. So many story opportunities there! Thinking about exploring the castle and finding Fluffy in their first year, to getting herself frozen by a basilisk in her second year, the shenanigans with Remus Lupin turning into a werewolf and Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban in her third year, the Tri Wizard Tournament and Voldemort coming back in fourth year… the list went on and on.

There was so much to write about from her own experiences that she could easily create a story based on her own life. With that in mind, she began writing out a timeline for the story and an outline. She developed her characters and came up with amusing and interesting names similar enough to their actual ones.

In the end, she came up with a plan to write about a young girl who finds out she is a witch and is sent of to a special boarding school. The novel would be a story about this young witch's adventures through out the seven years of her schooling at the magical boarding school. Hermione planned to allude to small parts of each year and focus on the last two years at the school when the young witch becomes a woman.

She spent copious amounts of time painstakingly laying it all out in order to make the actual story writing that much easier.

By mid-October, Hermione had her prep work completed as much as she could without actually writing the story. She had developed her setting to be similar to Hogwarts with a lake and a forest, a magical town nearby, and an interesting mix of witches and wizards. The best part of the whole prep work was coming up with interesting names for places and people. Hermione prepared a list of such that provided her endless moments of entertainment.

Part of her plan required her to keep things synonymous with her world so that only names for things changed, not the things in the story themselves. She had never tried writing fiction before, so Hermione thought it best to make the process simple and manageable. She was not convinced that her imagination was developed or inventive enough to come up with the settings, characters, name, etc, on her own.

Near the end of October, Hermione set the novel prep aside and focused once again on her school work. With a few days left to go before November the 1st, she wanted to make sure that all of her school work really was set before the insane writing began.

Even though she had been so far ahead in her studies, she still felt a lingering regret that she had not been giving her usual one hundred and ten percent the past couple of weeks. There was always the random pop quiz or last minute change to a syllabus that for which she had to be alert and prepared. Besides, what could it hurt to re-read her assignments and texts?


	2. The Calm Before the NaNoWriMo

**Chapter Two – The Calm before the NaNoWriMo**

At breakfast the morning of October the 30th, Hermione was alert and conversant, for a change. Her friends were surprised since her focus had been centred on a muggle notepad for the past month and a half.

"Oy, you deciding to speak to us now?" Ron commented sarcastically as she greeted them and took her usual seat.

Rolling her eyes in return, Hermione grabbed a few pieces of bacon and two slices of toast that were left before Ron, the human rubbish disposal, ate it all. "Yes, I am lowering myself enough to speak to the likes of you, Ronald."

Harry and Ginny laughed and welcomed their friend back into the fold. They were happy that Hermione had finished whatever absorbing project she was working on – they had no idea since she merely told them that they would not understand what she was talking about. Ginny missed the female support when dealing with the boys and Harry missed her witty responses to Ron's obnoxious comments.

Harry was particularly glad that Hermione was there since he needed help with the Potions homework that was do in twenty minutes.

"Let me ask you, Hermione, do you know which ingredient must be picked at the full moon to be used in the Polyjuice Potion?" Harry jumped right in as Hermione munched on her breakfast.

Hermione seemed surprised at the question – did she miss a lesson or assignment some how? Riffling through her stuffed bag, Hermione pulled out her potions notes. Thankfully, there was a roll of parchment that contained the essay due during this morning's lesson.

November hadn't even started yet and already her wits were frazzled!

Even though Hermione knew the answer right off the top of her head, she was thrown by the thought that she might have missed an assignment and had to make sure she completed her work. Breezing through the essay, Hermione found many points that she could have elaborated on but had to remind herself that it was too late to conduct a re-write. Besides, Professor Snape loathed it when she wrote overly lengthy essays.

Rolling up her essay, Hermione turned back to Harry. "Fluxweed," she said. "It is a member of the mint family known as false penny royal."

It was not a difficult answer to figure out if Harry had done his research like he was supposed to. Knowing Harry and Ron as she did, she was not surprised.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry replied as he scribbled the rest of his essay in a rush.

Hermione shook her head as she watched Ron read Harry's work over his shoulder before pulling out his essay to scribble a few more lines at the bottom. The boys would never learn.

Needless to say, once Ron Weasley had the answer, he shared it with the other Gryffindors in their Potions class. Pretty soon, nearly everyone had the answer and Hermione found herself displeased.

Why was it that she was the only one to put in the effort and do her work properly and on her own, yet everyone ended up finding out the answer the easy way? It was beyond annoying.

The only saving grace was that Professor Snape would be annoyed to no end that everyone in the class would have the right answer to the most challenging part of the assignment. She knew he was counting on giving most of the class a zero for not fully completing the assignment. His plans would be ruined; Hermione just hoped that he did not try to blame her. She rather hated to displease the man.

Over the summer, Hermione developed a rather fond appreciation for the Potions Professor – he was insanely intelligent, which she found refreshing, and had a rather sardonic sense of humour that was quite entertaining.

There were several points during the heat of the summer when the war was at its peak that the two were forced to work closely together on various projects. The time spent together taught Hermione how to deal with the acerbic man. His barbed tongue was a defense built up over long years of harassment by others. If she kept that in mind and read between the lines for what he was not saying rather than what he was, she found it very easy to deal with him.

During their work together, the pair developed a rather fun game of trying to one up each other. It was a great way to take their minds off the war and the losses, and it helped develop a friendship of sorts – as much as a student could have with a professor, that is. In fact, she had quickly and easily developed an attraction for the man – he was an enigma and that intrigued her to no end.

He was oddly attractive if one overlooked the hooked nose and greasy hair – though she swiftly learnt that the hair was a result of slaving over a cauldron for hours at a time. Even her hair was lank and slimy by the end of a day spent brewing in the basement of the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters at Grimmauld Place. Given her frizzy curls that certainly said a lot for the power of the vapour exuding from the cauldrons!

Of course, the more she got to know him, the more attractive he became to her. The deep baritone of his voice alone could melt the coldest heart. Those piercing black eyes could smoulder with deeply buried emotions and desires… though the desire part she had only imagined. She found lately that she could only wish that he would look at her with eyes filled with desire.

"Oy! 'Mione, you coming to class or what?" Ron shouted from the far end of the Great Hall and made her jump in surprise.

So deep in her musings had she been that the Great Hall had cleared out without Hermione even noticing.

"Of course I am coming to class, Ronald," she snapped as she quickly gathered her belongings and raced for the doors. "As if I would miss a class of all things!"

"Merlin forbid," Ron mocked as the three friends made their way to the dungeons for Potions Class.

As Hermione expected, Professor Snape was furious when he realised that nearly the entire class had the right answers in their essays. He was particularly harsh the entire lesson and took morbid pleasure in reading some of the appalling essays aloud.

Hermione winced at some of the essays – even with the right answers, some of her fellow students were still going to earn low marks with such atrocious grammar.

When the lesson finally ended, the students could not wait to escape the classroom. Professor Snape, however, was one step ahead of them as usual and spelled the door shut before anyone could make their escape.

"I want two feet on the precise collection requirements of fluxweed for use in the Polyjuice Potion, due next class," Professor Snape hissed. "If the essays are as horrible as this batch, then you will fail this class."

With a flick of the wrist, Professor Snape unlocked the door and sneered as the wide-eyed little buggers fled the room.

Hermione watched the professor with a feeling of annoyance as she gathered her belongings. It was so typical of him to punish the whole class because some of the students were dunderheads.

Now she had a two foot essay to complete on a subject she already included in her last essay. Her classmates were idiots, the lot of them.

* * *

><p>That evening, Hermione ignored her friends in aggravation. It was their fault for sharing the answer with the rest of the class and being part of the group that wrote absurdly bad essays.<p>

Instead of spending time with them, she wrote her essay for next Potions class. Since she knew the subject matter well, Hermione was able to wax eloquent for the full two feet of parchment in an hour's time.

Once she was finished, Hermione set out to do her rounds as Head Girl. She was on the schedule for an early evening round and another at 11 o'clock that night.

In mid-September, Hermione Granger volunteered for a few extra rounds during the Head meeting between the Headmaster, the Heads of House, the Head Girl and Boy, and the prefects. Figuring that she would be short on spare time during November, Hermione wanted to do her part as much as she could when she was available in late September, October, and December.

During the meeting, the schedule for rounds was laid out and everyone was given certain tasks in order to assist the professors in maintaining a safe and secure environment at Hogwarts.

Hermione had a brief discussion with the Headmaster and her Head of House, Professor McGonagall regarding her extra curricular interests during the month of November. They agreed to adjust the schedule accordingly to allow Hermione more freedom for that month with the understanding that her rounds would be more demanding before and after. In the end, Hermione was pleased with the results of the meeting and jumped right into her rounds with the vigour she normally showed with her studies.


	3. Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

**Hi folks, hope everyone is enjoying this little tale. It was an adventure to write in the first half of the month of November. Now I am trying to enjoy the whole editing process... trying being the key word there.**

**Anyway, just a quick note on the story - this is definitely AU since technically Hermione would have been in her 7th year before NaNoWriMo even began... in my mind, this is more along the timeline of when the 5th movie came out - so that Hermione's 7th year would have been more recent. Just keep that in mind as you read, if you will.**

**Still, I hope that you enjoy it all!**

**Chapter Three – Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail**

November the 1st was a Sunday that year and Hermione planned to stay up on Saturday night to begin writing at midnight – she anxious to start off on the right foot and knock out the first day with an extraordinary word count.

Saturday morning, her body wanted to get up early as always, but she forced herself back to sleep until 10 o'clock. That was unheard of for Hermione Granger, but she did not care. Who cared if her friends were worried when they saw that she was not at breakfast? Not I, Hermione thought blearily as slumber took her once again.

Indeed her friends were a tad concerned about their friend. Even when she was extremely busy, Hermione was not known to miss the most important meal of the day. Lunch and dinner were missed often by their curly haired friend, but never breakfast. Unless something was wrong… this was exactly what Ron kept saying throughout the morning meal.

"Perhaps we ought to just check her rooms," Ginny Weasley suggested when the Ron's fretting finally got to be too annoying.

"Good idea," her brother agreed. So worried was he that he dropped a rasher of bacon without thought and set off for the door and exited the Great Hall.

Harry and Ginny exchanged an amused look before quickly chasing after the red head. They both knew that Ron still had some of that old crush on Hermione and it entertained them when he acted in such a manner.

When the pair finally caught up to Ron outside Hermione's Head Girl room, they found the young redhead furiously pounding on the portrait guarding the door. With each bash, the blonde mermaid in the portrait was jostled as she clung to the painted rock for support.

Harry could barely contain his laughter as the mermaid screeched at Ron in rebuke. Ginny, being the only sensible one in the corridor, tried to quell her brother's behaviour before he drew the attention of a professor and got them all in trouble.

"Merlin Ronald, must you be such a menace!" Hermione shouted as she ripped open the portrait hole. She appeared bedraggled and groggy, as if she had only just woken up.

"Er, sorry, we were just, er, worried," Ron blurted, chagrined by her shouting.

"The boys thought that maybe you were sick or that something happened since you never miss breakfast," Ginny chimed in as Hermione continued to glare at Ron.

Knowing Hermione and Ron as she did, Ginny wanted to avoid a heated argument before it started.

"How very nice of them to be worried the one day I actually decide to have a lie in," Hermione sniped grumpily.

"You never have a lie in," Ron whined. "How were we supposed to know that you would start now?"

Rolling her eyes, Hermione stepped back and invited her friends in. She had slept long enough and thought it easier to invite them in than to send them packing.

As everyone made themselves comfortable near the fire, Hermione explained to them that she just wanted a lie in since she was planning to stay up rather late that night.

"What do you have planned?" Harry asked curiously. He wondered if it had anything to do with the big secret project she had been so focused on recently. Or maybe she had some mischief planned that they could join in for support, he thought.

Deciding to fess up – she knew that they would weasel it out of her anyway – Hermione told them of her plans to participate in the annual National Novel Writing Month competition. She patiently explained the goal of the project, the rules, the preparation involved, and what her story was going to be about.

Ginny seemed pretty impressed with the whole thing and even went so far as to express some interest in the idea. Harry was moderately impressed – it was Hermione Granger they were talking about here, after all. Ron, however, was flabbergasted.

"You are going to, what, write a book for fun? In a month? That is just… barmy!" he exclaimed, lost for words to fully explain his astonishment and distaste at such an idea.

Doing school work for fun was one thing, even though he still did not understand that, but writing a book just for the fun of it seemed ridiculous to him. There were so many other, better, things that one could do with her time than write a book in a month for no reason. She could hang out with her friends, date a wizard, learn how to play quidditch, play chess, goof off… the list was endless!

He would never understand Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley knew, but this was even worse than her normal overachievement.

"It will be a challenge, Ronald," Hermione replied. "That is the whole point of doing it, to challenge myself."

"That is just… barmy!" Ron seemed incapable of coming up with other insults at the moment, he was so flustered by the idea.

"Well, I happen to think it is pretty neat," Ginny piped up. "I am looking forward to tracking your progress throughout the month and seeing how it all turns out."

Harry nodded his agreement, knowing his friend could use the support.

"Thanks guys," Hermione said appreciatively. "It will not be easy and I imagine that I will be rather stressed at times, but it will be an accomplishment just to say I did it."

The four friends spent an hour chatting and hanging about in Hermione's rooms. They had moved on from the writing discussion but every once in a while Ron would revert back to his astonishment at the idea. He just did not get it. Still, it was pleasant to spend time hanging out together.

After a while, the boys got restless and decided it was time to play some quidditch. Ginny planned to join them in a mock game, so Hermione decided to take advantage of some outdoors time while she could. After midnight, she doubted she would have much time to get outside until the end of the month.

Knowing that she would probably get bored watching them play, Hermione decided to bring a roll of parchment and a self-inking quill to the pitch with her so she could practice some word sprints.

The idea was to give yourself a topic/word/challenge, set a time limit, and write as much as you could in that time span. It was supposed to help one's brain prepare for the rapid fire action of needing to write fifty thousand words in thirty days and to keep the mind focused on writing in a free flow manner.

Free flow writing was something that Hermione Granger was not good at – she was witch enough to admit it – so she knew the practice would really help. It would also help her focus on the writing without editing every bit as she went. December was for editing, as she understood it.

With that in mind, Hermione made her way to the Quidditch Pitch. By the time she arrived, Harry and Ron had managed to gather quite a few students from all of the Houses to join in a game. There were even a few spectators in the stands.

Hermione climbed into the stands and found a spot with a decent view so that she would be able to see the action in between her word sprints.

Luna Lovegood was the only student to sit any where near Hermione, for which the curly haired girl was thankful. Luna was the kind of person who understood and appreciated odd interests and hobbies. She was also the type to sit quietly by while Hermione wrote furiously during the word sprints.

"Hello Hermione," Luna Lovegood said after she sat down. "It is a beautiful day, isn't it? Just watch out for the nargles, they like to sneak into shoes on sunny days to avoid the argon rays."

"Hello Luna, thanks," Hermione replied with a friendly smile.

True to form, Luna unknowingly provided a bit of amusement and inspiration to Hermione, who greeted the blonde haired girl in response before setting off on a timed sprint.

Fifteen minutes and two hundred and fifty words later, Hermione had a page of scribbled nonsense about nargles climbing into witches shoes to eat their socks. The passage made absolutely no sense and was rife with spelling and grammatical errors, but Hermione had to remind herself that was not the point of the exercise. The word count and the consistent writing was the point and in that she had succeeded.

Hermione gave herself ten minutes to recover and watch the game before her. She also made idle conversation with Luna Lovegood in hopes of gaining additional inspiration for another sprint.

The girls watched as Ron was nearly knocked off his broom as he tried to stop the opposite team from scoring. He only just managed to snag the quaffle before it swooped through the middle hoop as he hung one handed from his broom.

Hermione gasped as she watched, worried for her friend, but her attention was pulled to the girl next to her. Luna had screamed when Ron practically fell off his broom and was so hysterical that she did not realize that Ron had easily tossed the quaffle to the nearest player on his team and effortlessly swung himself back up onto his broom.

Hermione was thoroughly surprised by Luna's reaction and made a mental note to both speak to the girl about her feelings for Ron and to mention to Ron that he had an admirer.

She was suddenly hit with an idea for her next word sprint – write a scenario where she set up one of her best friends with the blonde haired girl sitting next to her. She had a few minutes left to develop the idea and how to possibly execute it.

She could hardly wait to get started and that excitement worked its way into her blood stream so that she could hardly wait until she could actually fix up her two friends.

Admittedly, her reasoning was partly selfish. It would take two of her friends off of her back for the whole month of November. To be fair, she also thought the two of them would make a darling couple. They were both odd enough in their own ways and Luna would certainly help to ground Ron.

When her conjured timer went off, Hermione began furiously writing –

_Hermione asked Luna to join her on a walk around the Black Lake after they congratulated the players on their impromptu game and made sure that Ron was alright. _

_Hermione decided on her plan moments after watching Luna fawn all over Ron to check him over for any injuries. She barely even needed to make sure that Luna had feelings for her friend; it was clearly visible in the other girl's actions. Still, Hermione hated to be wrong so she had to be absolutely sure of Luna's feelings before she continued along this path._

"_Luna, are you seeing anyone here at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked the blonde haired girl as they strolled towards the Black Lake. _

"_What do you mean, Hermione?" Luna asked, confused. "I see everyone when I look at them."_

_Hermione barely refrained from laughing. "I mean, are you dating a particular wizard at school? Or is there someone in particular that you have a crush on or anything?'_

_Luna gazed thoughtfully into the distance for several minutes. "Well, now that you mention it… I am not dating any wizard at Hogwarts or otherwise. But I do have my eye on a certain wizard here. I doubt that he even knows that I exist beyond being Loony Lovegood."_

"_Would you be opposed to telling me who this wizard might be?" Hermione asked conspiratorially._

_Luna hesitated before seeming to collect her nerves and confidence. "Actually, you know this wizard rather well, Hermione," Luna stated airily. "I have admired him for a while now and cannot seem to notice any one other than him."_

_Hermione nodded and smiled encouragingly._

"_I am in love with Harry Potter and I have been since my second year here at Hogwarts."_

Hermione dropped her quill in shock. That was not how that scenario was supposed to go! She had it all planned out in her head and yet the characters seemed to take it upon themselves to change the ending without consulting her. She was the author, what were they thinking? The nerve!

Disgusted, she quickly counted up her words – 286 words total - before rolling up her parchment and shoving it into the pocket of her robes. She heard of the saying that the story will write itself, but she never truly understood that to mean that the characters would take her ideas and trample all over them in their own selfishness.

Shaking her head clear the shock of the path her story took – Merlin, if that happened in just a fifteen minute word sprint, what in Hades was she to expect from a fifty thousand word story?

She would deal with it as it came, Hermione imagined. The story would write itself if it wanted, whether she like it or not. As long as she made the goal, it really did not matter one way or another.

In the mean time, perhaps she could find out how the real life version of her sprint idea would turn out. Surely Luna was not, in fact, in love with Harry Potter! Her reaction during the game made it clear that she was not the least bit concerned about the Boy Who Lived, rather that boy's best friend.

"Say, Luna, would you like to take a stroll along the Black Lake with me? I have something I would like to discuss with you," Hermione explained.

"Sure Hermione," Luna readily agreed.

The two girls took one last look at the players as they all gathered on the field to regroup before continued to play. Seemed like a perfect time for a walk, Hermione thought, as the girls made their way down the stands to the ground level.

Once they were on the sprawling grounds of Hogwarts, Hermione began executing her plan.

"Luna, are you dating anyone?" Hermione asked.

Luna shot a questioning look at Hermione before replying. "Umm, no, I am not dating anyone. Why do you ask that, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled to herself. "I just ask because I noticed your reaction when Ron was knocked off of his broom and I wondered if, perhaps, you had interest in him."

Luna Lovegood was silent for some time as they continued to stroll along the Black Lake.

Hermione was uncertain now, as she thought the other girl might feel excited to gush if she did have feelings for Ron or she would have just stated out right that she had no interest in the boy. Hermione was not expecting the uncomfortable silence that ensued.

Just as Hermione was going to take back what she said and call the stroll to a halt, Luna seemed to regain herself.

"If you promise not to make fun, then I will tell you honestly that I am quite interested in Ronald Weasley and I have been for some time now."

Hermione smiled broadly and exclaimed, "Oh Luna, I would never make fun of you for such a thing! I think it is wonderful and that the two of you would make a great couple!"

Luna smiled bashfully. "Really, you think so?"

Hermione nodded and told the younger girl how much she liked her and thought that she would have much to offer Ron in a relationship.

The two girls chatted about dating and boys as they made their way back around the Black Lake to the castle. Upon reaching the doors to the Entry Hall, Hermione promised Luna that she would see what she could do to gently nudge Ron in her direction. Luna thanked her profusely while at the same time asking the older girl to not go to too much trouble.

Hermione chuckled inwardly at the younger girl's thinly veiled anticipation as they each went off in their own direction.


	4. And so the Fun Begins

**Thank you so much for all of the reviews so far! I really appreciate your comments!**

**Chapter Four – And so the Fun Begins**

After the evening meal, Hermione pulled Ron aside stating that she had a Quidditch question for him. Though immediately suspicious, he was also intrigued as to what in the magical world Hermione could want to talk about that needed to be discussed in private.

"What do you want to talk about 'Mione?" Ron stated bluntly once they reached an empty classroom on the second floor. "Because I know it's not Quidditch!"

Hermione sat on the nearest desk in the room, cast _Muffliato_ to ensure that their conversation was private, and got right to the point. She knew her friends well enough to know how to deal with delicate topics. With Ron, she had to get right to the point to avoid losing his attention to something shiny. With Harry, on the other hand, she needed to tread lightly so as not to set him off if on a fit.

"Ron, I was wondering if you were seeing anyone?" Hermione blurted.

"Er…" Ron appeared shocked and cornered. He started wringing his hands and shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

Hermione watched him, confused. Why was he acting so strangely? It was just a simple question. Hermione watched for another moment as his gaze flickered everywhere but at her. The sharp smack of realisation hit her hard and she gasped.

"I was not asking because I'm interested in you, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione shouted, unhappily understanding why he was being so weird and thankful that she had the forethought to cast that charm. "And even if I was, it wouldn't hurt you one bit to be less obvious in your disgust at the idea!"

She was angry at his response now. The dingbat had some nerve being so uncomfortable at the idea that she might be interested in him. For that reason, she was awfully glad that she was not even remotely interested in him. Prat!

"Sorry 'Mione," Ron apologized shamefully. "If you're not interested in me, then why did you ask such a question?"

"Because someone else _is_ interested, only Merlin knows why," Hermione responded sourly.

Her mood changed back to almost pleasant when she saw Ron's eyes light up at the thought that someone liked him. She had to hold back a chuckle as his shoulders straightened and a stray hand reached up to pat down his unwieldy hair.

"Well, don't leave me hanging 'Mione!" Ron cried out, exasperated and impatient. "Tell me who it is!"

Hermione chuckled heartily. It had been too long since she had seen her friend so excited about something that was not Quidditch or food related.

"Promise not to laugh if the attraction is not returned and I will tell you," Hermione demanded.

Ron readily agreed, though Hermione wondered at the sincerity. Glaring at him to be polite, Hermione proceeded to tell him what she discovered during the earlier Quidditch match.

"Luna Lovegood's had a crush on you for a very long time now. She was dreadfully worried when you were nearly knocked out by that Quaffle today."

Ron smiled dumbly and seemed to wander off in thought. That was a much better reaction than Hermione thought she might get.

"Really?" Ron seemed to have surfaced from his fog, slightly. "That's wicked."

Hermione decided to let Ron bask in his glory about the revelation. She bet it was safe to say that Luna's feelings would be returned. With that, she set off to her rooms to relax for the last few hours before midnight and madness arrived.

….

11:59 pm… Hermione was poised with her self-inking quill, her new roll of never-ending parchment, a self-replenishing goblet of water, plenty of food and water for Crooks, and a note on her door not to disturb her unless it was absolutely necessary. She was ready pitch arse over tea kettle into novel writing.

12:00 am… And she was off, her quill scribbling madly. Three words, ten words, one sentence, two sentences… Word after word she went. Hermione was a writing machine. The story was just flowing out of her like blood from a cut. It was effortless. It was freeing. She felt lighter than air and more verbose than the Oxford Dictionary.

12:10 am… and she ran out of words. Where had they gone off to? She was on such a roll and now the words were just lost. Writers block already? That cannot be possible! It was only ten minutes into the whole challenge, how was that even possible? She wracked her brain trying to think of something, anything, but there was nothing for it.

Hermione decided to take a momentary break to brush her teeth, wash her face, and send a fire call down to the kitchens for a nice crepe to get her motivation back.

Hopefully, this was not foreshadowing the month ahead of her, she thought frustratedly. If that were the case, she was quickly going to regret the decision to write 50,000 words in 30 days. As it was, Hermione was already questioning her sanity.

She fretted the whole time it took for the house elf to deliver her crepe. How could she be out of words already? It had only been ten bleeding minutes! That was only about two hundreds words at her pace. Surely there were thousands of words still hidden in her brain!

Once her crepe appeared on the end table, Hermione dug out her hidden stash of Ogden's Old Firewhisky and poured a healthy three fingers into a tumbler. She sipped at it as she ate the crepe and re-thought her whole strategy.

Perhaps going zero to sixty was the cause of the quick burnout? What was that tale about the tortoise and the hare? Slow and steady wins the race…

Maybe her new plan should be to pace herself and work through it as she would anything else. Calculate what it would take to finish on time and set that as a goal. The goal would be her minimum word count for the day and if she surpassed it then she would be happy.

Having devoured the crepe and sipped down two full shots of Firewhisky, Hermione was feeling warm, fuzzy, and particularly verbose. She set herself back to the task of writing and felt like the break had done her body and brain some good. She did not doubt that the Firewhisky was quite helpful too.

_Harmony Gagne was excited to see this new school of hers. Just the train from Kings Cross Station had been an adventure so far – everything was different and new. Some students had owls as pets. OWLs! She could not wait to see what else was in store for her at this school._

_As she stared out the compartment window, Harmony heard the door open and turned to see who would dare disturb her. _

"_Oh, sorry. All the other compartments are full. Would you mind if we joined you?" two dark haired twin girls asked.._

"_Certainly," Harmony replied, waving to the bench across from her._

"_Thank you," the slight more done up girl replied. "I'm Pallavi Parikh, by the way and this is my sister Panya."_

_Panya smiled shyly in Harmony's direction while Pallavi preened and checked her reflection in the window._

_Hermione smiled at the pair and introduced herself. "I'm Harmony Gagne. It's a pleasure to meet you."_

_The girls made idle chit chat to get to know each other. Harmony learnt that the girls were of Indian descent and their father was a barrister. Harmony told them of her parents who were muggle professors at Imperial College in London._

_Some time into the trip, a red headed boy and another boy with messy dark hair and spectacles suddenly opened the compartment door. _

"_Oy, you two, have you seen a rat?" the redhead blurted._

_Harmony, Pallavi, and Panya just stared at the boy with open mouths, each one of them at a loss for words. What was up with the boy, she wondered, just barging into the compartment and shouting at them?_

_Pallavi frowned prettily before clearly turning her back on the rude boy. Panya just stared at her feet as they dangled from the seat. Harmony sighed deeply._

"_Nooo, we haven't seen a rat," Harmony replied haughtily. "I'm sure you would've heard a scream or two if we had. Please kindly knock next time before barging into a compartment containing people you don't know."_

"_Mm hmm, right," the obnoxious boy replied before spinning on his heels and walking away. The dark haired boy just shrugged and followed after his friend._

"_Well, they were rather rude," Harmony said to the other girls._

_Panya nodded while Pallavi huffed. "They are immature boys, what do you expect?"_

_Panya giggled at her twin and whispered conspiratorially to Harmony. "Pallavi likes older boys."_

_Harmony raised her eyebrows. She was not aware that they were of an age to even notice boys yet, outside of being annoying buggers. But here was an eleven year old girl who 'liked older boys'. Interesting, Harmony thought._

_Deciding that Panya was probably more her speed than Pallavi, Harmony spent the rest of the trip trying to coax the shy girl out of her shell. _

…

Hermione continued writing until four in the morning, which was the point where she could no longer keep her eyes open. It was not defeat, as she had accomplished 3,212 words, which was just under twice the required word count for day one. She was quite proud of herself, considering it was only four in the morning and she had plenty of time to sleep and still spend the rest of the day writing. Even if she slept until noon, she would have the whole day to write her story and add up the word count.

As Hermione tucked herself into bed and extinguished the light in the room, Crookshanks jumped up onto the bed to cuddle with his human.

"Oh, I am sorry Crooks," Hermione said as she pet her half kneazle. "Mummy has been neglecting you all night, hasn't she?"

Crookshanks purred extra loud at that and rolled over onto his back to demand some belly rubs.

"It is only going to get worse though, Crooks. Mummy has to finish this story within thirty days and there are word count requirements and all that."

Hermione explained the whole project to her half kneazle as he batted at her hands and rubbed against her side. He was a smart feline and he knew that his human was prone to extreme focus. He was resourceful and could fend for himself when he had to. He would just have to be smart during this month and approach his human during her breaks so that he could take advantage of the affection and cuddles. When she was busy, he would spend his time harassing that old bag of bones Mrs. Norris and chasing that furry piece of arse in the Ravenclaw dorms.

And for now, he would just snuggle up to her warm body and get whatever pets she was willing to give before she fell asleep.

As Hermione fell asleep, she tried to make a mental note for the morning – she needed to conjure a muggle typewriter to make this whole writing thing a wee bit easier.


	5. 5,000 Words a Day

**Chapter Five - 5,000 Words a Day Keeps the NaNo Monster Away**

Slowly waking up, Hermione glanced at the old fashioned Muggle alarm clock on her nightstand. It was only 9 in the morning – she only slept for five hours. She felt rested enough but opted to lounge about in bed with Crookshanks at her side for a while.

When she finally got up, Hermione positioned herself on the settee in front of the hearth, sipped at her Earl Grey and scribbled a few notes for her story. She made notations to expand on her descriptions. Not only would it add to her word count, but it would paint a better picture for potential readers. She could expand on the setting, characters' appearance, their moods and actions. For the rest of the day, her goal was to bump up her word count with flowing descriptions.

With a plan in mind, Hermione set down her mug of Earl Grey and snatched up her wand. A swish and flick later, she had conjured a functional muggle typewriter to assist in the whole writing process. She would never make it by handwriting the whole story, at least not without lots of knuckle cramps!

Having never used one of those contraptions before, Hermione took her time in assessing the working parts. She checked where the ink reservoir was and cast a charm to make sure it always stayed full. She practiced loading her roll of parchment and lined up her starting point for the day beneath her handwritten portion.

Hermione slowly started tapping away at the keys, getting used to the feel of the typewriter and how it differed from the muggle computer keyboards she used at her parents' home.

Soon enough, she had a slow but steady groove that proved much faster than handwriting.

_Harmony stared up at the ceiling in awe – the night stars were visible, shining and twinkling with the glow of a three-quarter waxing moon. Thin wisps of clouds slid past the stars as if a soft breeze was blowing them along._

_The Great Hall was enormous and nearly packed full. Long tables extended from nearly one end of the room to the other and were full of excited students of all sizes and ages. At the end of the centre walkway was a table set cross ways on a level higher than the other tables. At this minted table sat the professors in their fancy looking robes. Some of the professors appeared intimidating and imposing, while others were cheerful and welcoming. Harmony took that as foreshadowing for their temperaments and teaching methods._

"_Are you as nervous as I am?" Panya whispered to Harmony as they continued to follow a very stern looking professor toward the large High Table._

"_Probably," Harmony replied with a murmur. She was nervous and excited, which was an interesting combination – it made her stomach tingle and twitch like a thousand butterflies were trapped and flapping around in there. It was not a feeling she had ever experienced before._

Five minutes and two hundred and two words, not too shabby but not as good as she would have liked. She still had a long way to go but it was only day one – still early on in day one, too. And her word count per minute had definitely increased with the help of the typewriter. As she continued to use it, Hermione had no doubts that her words per minute count would increase even more.

Looking back over her work quickly, Hermione noticed that she really needed to work on her ability to describe things – she was not as wordy as she could be and it would really help the word count if she became better at the whole thing.

Hermione continued writing for an hour, each passage becoming more descriptive than the last as she became comfortable with adjectives. Next, she would have to work on her dialogue. It was so very early on and already Hermione was getting sick of dialogue that ended in he said, she replied, he asked. It was mundane and boring, and she was capable of so much more.

Hermione's word count jumped when she figured out that she did not have to stick to a linear form of writing. Writing the scenes that worked and flowed then filling in the blanks in between was a method that she had read about over the summer. There was no reason that she had to write in a strict linear fashion when the story would still need to be edited within an inch of its life in December. Bouncing around from one scene to another could work for her, she thought.

It was not hard to get the swing of it after that. In three hours, she made it to five thousand words. That was a good start for the project and quite a feat for Day One. With that, Hermione decided to set aside her NaNo novel and do some revision to make sure that she was still ahead with her school work. Hermione refused to let anything fall behind in that endeavour.

Before pulling out her school books, Hermione thought of something. Grabbing her wand, she cast a duplication charm on her NaNo novel parchment, creating two separate copies. She then charmed the copies to automatically update whenever she worked on the original. With all the time and effort she was putting into this work of fiction, she refused to have something happen to the original without having a back up option available. Hermione Granger was no fool that was for sure. Best be prepared for any contingency, she thought.

Feeling satisfied that her work was safe and secure, Hermione happily moved on to reviewing her school work and assignments. Even though she already knew that her assignments were complete, and thoroughly so, Hermione found joy and contentment in doing her best and reviewing what she already completed. If there was an opportunity to make something better, she wanted to know before it was too late.

History of Magic was first up. Professor Binns, in all his ghostly glory, had assigned a two foot essay on the Great Warlock Uprising of 1854. The professor barely glossed over the subject in class but wanted the students to do their own research and come up with their own theories and opinions on why the uprising occurred and what the warlocks meant to accomplish through such actions.

Hermione completed her research quickly and thoroughly as soon as it was assigned, per usual. It was a topic that she had previously researched out of her own curiosity when she needed a little light reading, which helped her greatly with this assignment. Her essay was exactly two feet long, written in her tiny cramped writing. Her conclusions were sound and presented a wonderful explanation as to the causes and consequences of the uprising. She concluded that nothing was accomplished by the uprising and that more rights were lost than gained for the group involved.

Knowing that she had nothing of consequence to add to the essay, Hermione moved on to the next subject.

Professor McGonagall knew that Hermione was the brightest witch of her age and was not challenged by the current curriculum. Therefore, Professor McGonagall liked to add additional requirements and tasks to Hermione's assignments, which the young witch greatly appreciated. Transfiguration was one of her favourite subjects and Hermione enjoyed the opportunity to stay focused and challenged.

The Transfiguration assignment due tomorrow required Hermione to describe the process one goes through to become an Animagus and the theoretical reasonings for wanting to become one in the first place.

Hermione was ecstatic about such an assignment, as it meant that Professor McGonagall trusted her enough with the research which would eventually lead to learning the process herself. As such, Hermione spent an hour reading through her write up and adding bits of information here and there until she felt satisfied at the effort.

Next was her Charms work. Professor Flitwick held the same opinion as Professor McGonagall on Hermione's intelligence and talent. Starting in the beginning of her sixth year, Professor Flitwick had taken to raising the bar for Hermione. Her assignments were on the level of a second year Charms apprentice by the end of her sixth year. This year, she was studying the equivalent work of a graduating Charms apprentice.

As such, Professor Flitwick was allowing Hermione to plan, coordinate, and execute a long term Charms study on her own. He monitored her progress weekly and allowed her to work on her project during class time as long as she helped others in class who were struggling with the lessons.

Currently, Hermione's project focused on the cooperative effect of Charms used in the art of Potions making. She was not-so-successfully trying to coordinate the Potions aspect with Professor Snape. He was a bit ornery still, despite their successful partnership over the summer. She was not about to give up though. She just needed to progress far enough in her project to show Professor Snape that it was worthy of his assistance, or at least his guidance. If she could just convince him to allow her to go to him with questions when she hit a brick wall in her research, that would be most helpful.

Considering the status of her Charms project, Hermione did not have anything immediate to add to the status summary report she had prepared for Professor Flitwick.

Hermione was moving right through her subjects. That was the joy of being an overachiever – most of her work was completed weeks in advance.

Potions was a subject that Hermione had to work hard to excel at, but that was part of her enjoyment in any accomplishment she did achieve. Any ground covered in Potions was a success and she was proud of her accomplishments in Professor Snape's class, even if he did not appear to be impressed by anything she did.

She greatly respected the fact that Professor Snape continued to challenge her, and all the other students in the class, even if it was for the sheer enjoyment of watching them fail. He took great morbid enjoyment in watching others struggle with something that he could do with his eyes blindfolded and one arm tied behind his back.

The man was a natural born genius. It was so… attractive.

Shaking her head sharply, Hermione got her mind focused back on the task at hand. Her Potions essay was complete but she had a feeling that she was missing an item or two that would really solidify her points.

She was missing some characteristic of gum seed oil that could adversely affect the manic potion when heated at certain temperatures. What was it though? She knew that she read it at some point; she just needed to find the reference to include in her foot notes and justify her conclusions.

Hermione spent an hour researching her notes and texts before she came across the proper reference. Another forty five minutes were spent perfecting her statements and conclusions, as well as citing her references. Hermione was very content with her work and only wished that Professor Snape, for once, would think the same.

Banishing the thoughts of Professor Snape from her mind, Hermione set herself to task once again. She re-read the current chapters for Herbology, Arithmancy, and Astronomy to make sure she was up to date on her lessons and ready for class.

By late afternoon, Hermione had wrapped everything up and decided to take a walk on the grounds before dinner. The fresh air and sunlight would do her mind and body some good before she settled down to do some more hectic NaNo WriMo writing.

On the walk down the corridors and moving stairs, Hermione could not stop her mind from wandering to her work with Professor Snape over the summer. She enjoyed it so much; it was hard to look at him in the old light of snarly Potions Professor and spending so much time in his company.

The man had been on her mind on and off for months, though she tried to stop thinking about him at all. She could not force him from her mind. What rotten timing for a crush! She had a lot on her plate right now and did not need the distraction of desiring one of her professors!

That was another reason that some fresh air would do her good – it would help clear her mind of the nonsense. Since when had she turned into a horny school girl?

Numerous students were out and about on the grounds. It was a gorgeous day considering it was the first of November. The sun was shining and the air was crisp.

She greeted several people along the way and even answered a young first year's questions about the Giant Squid's eating habits. Oh the joys of being Hogwarts' Head Girl, Hermione thought.

Amused, she continued on her stroll down to the water and along the shore line of the lake. In the distance, she could see a family of Thestrals darting up from the depths of the Forbidden Forest to hover above the trees before diving back down.

The sight was beautiful yet sad – why did they have to be creatures that only those who have seen death can actually see? It was a pity that she had been able to see them for several years now. However, they were gorgeous creatures that now that she has seen them, she did not want to un-see them.

Hermione walked until she was around the western edge of the lake where a length of driftwood was laid out on the shore. She sat upon a rather thick portion of the driftwood where her back could rest against a bare limb.

It was the perfect spot to relax and bask in the sunshine. In the distance, Hermione spotted Ron Weasley and Luna Lovegood walking hand in hand. She smiled at the sight and felt a sense of extreme happiness for her friends.

The sight also made her realize, again, that she was the only one in their group to not be dating anyone. Not that she currently had the time to spare for someone else, really, but the pang of loneliness still stung.

The loneliness made her think again of the summer working with Professor Snape. That was the kind of relationship she wanted – one where they could work together with such precision, have stimulating conversations, blazing rows… all that was missing over the summer was the physical aspects – no touches unless they were purely accidental, no kisses, caresses, etc. She had no experience with those aspects and that was part of why she was hesitant to jump into dating one of the students. Not that anyone was even interested in her.

She was too smart to worry herself about such trivial things, Hermione reminded herself. Boys at Hogwarts had no appreciation for intelligence or focus, which eliminated her from their radar. Even the Ravenclaw boys wanted someone with whom they could chat and still take advantage of private situations – they had plenty of smart but easy girls to choose from in Ravenclaw as it was, and if they wanted someone even easier, they had girls in the other houses.

Hermione was neither dopey or easy, and much too smart to fall for the petty flatteries that school boys used. That meant she presented too much of a challenge for the young wizards.

Her time would come in later years, when she had more exposure to older wizards who appreciated brains _and_ beauty, and the challenges associated with a witch with such attributes.

Her Hogwarts years were meant for making friends, studying, earning very high marks, and preparing herself for her future career. There was no time for petty relationships with boys she was not at all interested in.

That settled it in her mind and Hermione was once again in a pleasant place, eager to do well in whatever task was set for her.

Just as she knew it would, the walk cleared her mind of trivial matters and gave her the proper atmosphere and breadth for self reflection.

With fresh perspective and focus, Hermione turned her mind back to her National Novel Writing Month story. She rethought a few of her plans for her story. It would be a vast undertaking to cover all seven years of Harmony Gagne's adventure at Pigbumps School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Perhaps she would introduce a few aspects of the early years and focus on the scenes for Harmony's sixth and seventh years.

* * *

><p>Dinner was as boisterous as ever, but Hermione's group of friends just quietly discussed her story and inquired about her word count stats. Thank Merlin her friends had listened and understood when she told them that she wanted to keep this project quiet – she did not want to endure the mocking by other less motivated students who were already behind in their classes without even thinking of taking on extra curricular work just for the fun of it.<p>

Most students just could not understand her motivations and would make fun of them. She made her friends swear to not do that to her and to prevent others from engaging in such activities by only quietly discussing her project and not telling others.

So it was that the four friends whispered quietly and congratulated Hermione on her progress.

It was surprising to see the boys so supportive of her extra work. She was used to Ginny understanding her motivations, even if the younger girl was not willing to participate in the adventure.

The boys were a whole different story. They rarely understood her, let alone her motivations and drive for success. They preferred to do the bare minimum to meet requirements, if that, and could not fathom the drive required to go above and beyond just for the sheer pleasure of doing so.

All of that made it quite pleasing to Hermione that she had the opportunity to bask in their praise and support. Perhaps they were growing up, finally? She could only hope.

The pleasant experience with her friends opened Hermione up and she engaged them in conversation, even when the topic turned to Quidditch.

Quidditch was something that would be included in her story soon and though she knew the basics, or at least some of them, she would need more information to be able to aptly describe a game on paper. Especially if she was to work on her descriptions to bulk up the word count.

So it was that Ginny, Harry, and Ron exuberantly laid out the world of Quidditch for Hermione. They started with the required equipment, the rules, moves and tricks, and finished with the leading teams that season. They dropped famous names of players and coaches to include in her story if she decided to include something about the Quidditch World Cup.

The group knew of Hermione's basic idea to take their experiences at Hogwarts and work them into a story about a young Muggle-born who did not know she was a witch until it was time to go to Hogwarts. Knowing Hermione as they did, her friends imagined that the story would be less action-adventure and more of a coming-of-age tale – something that Ginny had to explain to the boys so they could understand.

The boys and Ginny were excited about the story – Harry especially so since he was not to be the focus, for once. He was very interested to read Hermione's finished story once she completed her editing and revisions. Knowing Hermione as he did, he was sure it would be an entertaining and thorough tale.

After Hermione had taken all the notes she could manage without actually writing the Quidditch scenes right there at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, she rolled up her parchment, tucked away her notes, and turned the conversation to Ron's new girlfriend.

"How are things going with Luna," Hermione asked Ron as she noticed him gazing off in the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

Smiling dazedly, Ron responded, "Things are going great! Way better than I could've hoped. I don't know why I never asked her out before."

Harry, Ginny, and Hermione laughed happily with their friend. It was very nice to see Ron Weasley so happy with a witch who was so good for him. His being with Luna was so unlike his time with Lavender Brown – that was just obnoxious teenage snogging and pathetic lovey-dovey nicknames, in Hermione's opinion.

What Ron and Luna had was looking very similar to what Harry and Ginny had – a love to last a lifetime, no matter the petty things that may try to break them apart.

Even though it was early days for them, Hermione knew that Ron and Luna were meant for each other. It made her very happy to see her friends all so happy.

Her time would come, she knew, but it was still so nice to know that those people important to her were so happy themselves. She was not the type to be jealous of what others had that she did not, so she had no problems being legitimately happy for others.

* * *

><p>Hermione wrote another three hundred words before going to bed on Sunday night. She felt quite content with her current word count – there was more than enough buffer should she not have time to really buckle down in her writing in the next few days. At 5,300 words, she was three times the minimum requirement for Day One.<p>

Satisfied, Hermione went to bed early.

That night, her dreams were filled with a shadowed figure with flowing black hair who was dressed in a long black robe.

The figure followed her about the school, but he did not scare her. He did not touch or talk to her, he just followed. Hovering in the background at meal times, sitting next to her in her classes, watching her from the next seat as she wrote in her room.

She had no doubts who the figure was supposed to represent, but she had no explanation for why he appeared in that manifestation.

Dark and brooding, it was no doubt her Professor Snape. Why was he a shadow figure that hovered two feet above the floor and followed her around like a lost puppy?


	6. The Power of Imagination

**AN - I apologize for the extreme delay! RL seem to explode between work and the holidays and I am only now coming up for air. Also, this story requires more editing and re-writing than I originally planned, so things will not be as quick as I hoped. It will get there, though.**

**Chapter Six – The Power of Imagination**

_Harmony peeked out from her hiding spot behind the suit of armour as the menacing professor loomed over the three young students in the corridor._

"_What, pray tell, are the three of you doing roaming about the school in the middle of the night?" Professor Snark murmured evilly._

"_Er, we, ah…" Harvey Porter tried to explain._

_Harmony chuckled inwardly at the sight of the fearful expressions on the boys' faces. She was so sick of seeing the three of them – Harvey Porter, Rohan Westerly, and Ned Littletop – act like they ruled the school and were above the rest of the students. _

_Serves them right to be caught out by the strictest professor at Pigbumps, Harmony thought._

"_Would one of you care to try explaining your way out of this?" Professor Snark hissed. After a moment of continued silence, he continued. "I thought not."_

_Grabbing Rohan by the ear and Harvey by the scruff of his neck, Professor Snark marched down the hall. When Ned Littletop remained frozen in place, the professor shouted an order for him to follow._

_Harmony watched as Ned jumped a foot high in fright before scurrying after the professor and his friends. She was only mildly surprised that the boy did not wet his pants._

_Once the group was gone from sight, Harmony grabbed her two library books – her reason for being out of her dormitory at that hour – and high tailed it back to her room._

_That night, her dreams were bazaar. Every time her dream self walked down a hallway, Professor Snark would appear behind her and tug roughly on her ponytail. She woke up the next morning wondering what that was all about._

Hermione immensely enjoyed the whole process of making up names that were still similar enough to the real characters. Some of the names made her laugh – such as the characters she modeled after herself and her friends, and Professor Snape's new name. No name could so aptly suit him besides Sullivan Snark.

She laughed out loud just thinking about it. Some of the funniest ones were yet to be named, too.

The whole process of writing for fun was very enjoyable for Hermione. It allowed her to engage her mind in a way that she rarely ever had, even as a child.

Hermione Granger was never known to have an imagination, before now.

Now, she was swiftly learning how much fun it could be to make things up. Anything was game. She could create a whole new world if she wanted to, though she imagined that was a bit out of her league just yet.

For now, she was more than happy to merely add some new things to an already existing world. Perhaps next year she would branch out into the unknowns of true fiction writing and create a supernatural fantasy novel.

Stopping before she totally lost herself in thoughts of creating next year's novel, she rolled up her parchment and gathered her belongings to go down to breakfast.

Have to finish this year's novel before even considering next year's, she told herself as she walked from her Head Girl's rooms and headed down the corridor.

One step at a time with this little adventure, Hermione reminded herself.

* * *

><p>Breakfast was a quiet affair as her friends were either busy eating (Ronald Weasley) or busy scribbling out the last of an assignment due in their first class (Harry Potter).<p>

Ginny Weasley appeared exhausted as she sat next to her boyfriend Harry. Hermione imagined that Ginny and Harry were up late spending alone time together, which would explain Ginny's exhaustion and Harry's mad rush to finish his assignments at the last possible moment.

This morning she opted for scrambled eggs and a couple rashers of bacon with toast. She made a little sandwich out of the food as she had seen someone on an American television show do once.

As she bit into the sandwich, Hermione relished the taste of the three ingredients mixed together. Finding that she rather liked it, Hermione dug in and devoured her meal in record time. Feeling the need for additional brain food, Hermione made another sandwich and proceeded to eat it much slower this time.

When she finished, Hermione dusted herself free of the crumbs and looked up, having felt the heat of eyes upon her.

Her gaze went directly to the Head Table where she found Professor Snape watching her with a very odd expression. Seeming to realize that he had been staring in a very uncouth manner, he quickly averted his attention else where.

Hermione was left feeling confused and a little warm under the collar.

After her thoughts about him lately and the strange dream last night, Hermione was beginning to wonder if there was a larger force at work there.

Professor Snape never looked at her with anything other than disgust or exasperation. The look in his eyes just then was most definitely neither of those things. What could he have possibly been thinking?

No time to worry on it now, she told herself. It was time to shake a leg and get to the first class of the day.

Bidding farewell to her friends, Hermione went off in the direction of the Arithmancy classroom.

Arithmancy class was just the thing she needed to keep her mind off of trivial matters. It was a challenging class, and as such, it was a small intimate class for highly motivated seventh years.

In many ways it was similar to an upper level college class in that Professor Vector expected a give and take from her students. The professor would lecture for a short time, give them a project to complete in class, research to do on their own, and then ask them to spend the beginning of the next class discussing their findings and opinions.

Professor Vector wanted more than note-taking drones in her class. She wanted free thinkers capable of taking in information, assimilating it, and coming up with their own answers and opinions.

Which was why she only had the brightest of the students in her seventh year class – all six of them. The rest were just not smart or ambitious enough to put forth that much effort.

Professor Vector was almost worse than Professor Snape in weeding out the unworthy dunderheads from her classes. She was just nicer about it than Professor Snape, which went a long way in earning her students respect.

Earning the students respect was something that Professor Snape definitely needed to work on. It was not a skill that the professor possessed. Though Hermione doubted that Professor Snape even cared about such trivial things.

Today's Arithmancy lesson was on the challenges of deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics without using charms.

Professor Vector lectured for fifteen minutes then gave the class a practice glyph to work on as a group. Collectively, it took the six students half an hour to fully decipher the passage.

The professor congratulated them on cracking the easiest glyph in Egyptian writing and proceeded to assign them each a different glyph to work on during class and research before the next lesson later that week.

* * *

><p>Hermione decided to focus on her Arithmancy work during lunch in order to free herself up to write her novel in the evening.<p>

Having utilized her class time to its full extent, Hermione was able to finish her calculations and fully decipher the assigned glyph by the end of lunch break. That set her ahead of the game given the fact that the assignment was not due until Friday.

Depending on her assignments for her afternoon classes, Hermione would use Tuesday's lunch time for some library research time so that she could again keep her evening mostly free for writing.

"You're like a machine, Hermione," Harry commented as they were leaving the Great Hall after lunch.

"It's rather scary," Ron added with a laugh. "Brilliant, but scary."

Hermione smiled at her friends and joked along with them. It was a little scary if she stopped to think about it. It was a lot of work for one person, but she took great pleasure in learning and challenging herself.

"Good luck with your writing tonight," Ginny added as they all separated to go to their next class.

"Thanks, Ginny," Hermione called as she caught the moving staircase as it turned to head for the west wing on the third floor.

History of Magic was particularly boring as Professor Binns decided to cover the Goblin Rebellion of 1787 for the third time that semester.

Hermione knew all there was to know about that bloody Goblin Rebellion without having been there in the flesh thanks to the ghostly professor.

So, instead of risking the chance and embarrassment of falling asleep at her desk, Hermione decided to get a jump on her word count.

Unrolling her novel parchment, Hermione settled in to write as Professor Binns lectured on and on. By the end of class, Hermione managed to hand write five hundred and forty eight words.

Between classes and sleep, she was pleased with her count for the day so far.

On her way to her next class, Hermione thought over her options for the evening. Perhaps she would go to the library after dinner and finish her Arithmancy research first before settling down to write the evening away. She would feel much better if she was able to get her homework out of the way first.

Her next class was Astronomy and the lesson was interesting enough to warrant Hermione's full attention. Since it was daylight, the lesson was predominantly lecture oriented. They would have an evening class on Thursday to hold the practical lesson on what they learnt during the lecture.

Hermione enjoyed the practical lessons much more than the lectures in that particular class. That went for all of her classes, really.

She was bright enough to learn from a book and research on her own, so lectures were almost a waste of time. The practical lessons were preferred as they offered a true test of a student's ability to process information and turn it into skill.

The day's Astronomy lesson, however, was interesting. They were learning about the Proaxis Galaxy and how the stars within the galaxy could help determine the weather patterns on Earth.

They learned that the centaurs used these stars to time the arrival of the first snowfall and the first thaw every winter and spring.

Hermione's hand hurt by the end of the lecture from the copious notes she had taken. That would put a bit of a damper on her story writing this evening, she thought. Just more reason to visit the library to complete her research instead. Even her modified Muggle typewriter would not be easy on her aching hand.

* * *

><p>Harry and Ron were arguing about Quidditch during the evening meal. Harry was the Gryffindor team captain this year and had opted to make Ron his co-captain.<p>

They made a great team in leading the, well, team. But they also argued often and loudly.

Harry had a certain way of being able to look at a player and determine what position would be best for him or her. He had no problems switching them around from game to game, either. He said that certain days a player could be focused and able for one position and another day he or she might just be better off in another position.

The only two positions that were not interchangeable in his mind were seeker and keeper, though he did not have any problems with trying out new players for those positions. It was always a god idea to have backup players, after all.

Ron, on the other hand, was of the thought that a player tries out for a specific position during the team tryouts and stays in whatever position he or she is awarded by the captain. There was no rotating and switching out positions.

The two different mindsets caused many an argument.

Hermione and Ginny just thought that Ron felt threatened by players that could occupy several different positions. He worked very hard to be a good Keeper and it bothered him when others were naturally better than him.

Boys!

* * *

><p>The library was quiet that evening, as usual. Hermione went straight for her favourite table which was tucked away in the back corner, just outside of the Restricted Section.<p>

She preferred that table for the simple fact that few ventured near there unless they had permission to access the Restricted Section or were specifically seeking her out. Since access to the Restricted Section was rarely granted to the students, Hermione knew few people would bother her that evening.

Pulling out her calculations and work from class, Hermione reviewed the deciphered glyphs to make sure she knew what she was looking for in her research. The passage was twenty six characters long – in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that was a short series of words, depending on how they connected.

Hermione copied the glyphs and set off for the Ancient Languages section. Having spent more than her fair share of time in the library in the past seven years, Hermione knew her way around it almost better than Madam Pince. If she were forced to, she could navigate it blindfolded with both hands tied behind her back.

In the first few minutes of gazing at the texts on the shelves, Hermione had picked out six tomes to peruse. Each text was older than the last and Hermione took great care in handling them.

Not wanting to risk using magic on them to float the books back to the desk with her, Hermione settled for carrying the six texts back to her table. She would look through these first to see what she could find before searching for more.

Just as she turned the corner at the end of the aisle, a brick wall jumped in front of her. Dropping her pile of books, Hermione fell back on her arse with an exclamation.

Feeling a little dazed, she looked up to see what could have possibly knocked her over with such force in the middle of the empty library.

Professor Snape stood there looking a little stunned himself.

The professor held a book in his hands as he stared down at her sprawled form. Finally collecting himself, Professor Snape reached out a hand to assist Hermione in getting back to her feet.

Almost too stunned to accept, Hermione took a second to shake her jostled mind back into action.

She gratefully accepted her Potions professor's hand and easily regained her feet with his assistance.

Professor Snape immediately dropped her hand as if it burnt his skin and seemed to brush himself off as if he were the one who was just knocked to the floor.

"Forgive me, Miss Granger," he murmured.

Hermione was shocked silent. Never in her seven years at Hogwarts had she ever heard Professor Snape apologize.

Again, she had to shake her head to kick start her brain. What was wrong with her lately?

"I am sorry, Professor. I was not watching where I was going as I turned the corner," she replied huskily.

What was wrong with her voice?

"No harm done," he said carefully. "Are you hurt in any way?"

Hermione stared at him as he swooped down and gathered her fallen books.

"Er, no, sir. I am fine. Just a bruised ego, I suppose," she whispered.

Professor Snape appeared to check her over with his gaze and found her to be telling the truth.

"Have a pleasant evening then, Miss Granger," Professor Snape said with a slight quirk of his lips as he handed her the sorted pile of books.

With that, the professor swept off in a flow of robes. He was gone in a flash, leaving Hermione to wonder if she imagined the whole incident.


	7. Cue the Interesting Drama

**I am deeply sorry for the very long delay between updates. Real life hit some very busy speed bumps, but we are chugging right along now. We started a new business and my full time job requires lots of hours, but with the longer daylight hours, I find that I have a lot more energy to devote to my hobbies. So, without further ado, here is the next chapter of this adventure...**

**Chapter 7 - Cue the Interesting Drama**

Feeling thoroughly confused after her encounter with Professor Snape - what in Merlin's name was wrong with her voice, she still wondered - Hermione kept a watchful eye on her surroundings as she walked back to her table. Merlin knew she preferred not to get bowled over again. Falling on her bum once per evening was the limit.

When she set her pile of books on the table, Hermione noticed that there were seven books instead of six. She knew that she only grabbed six books from the shelves, which meant that Professor Snape left his book on the top of her pile.

Picking up the book, Hermione inspected what had so thoroughly captivated the Professor that he would run right into her. Usually, Professor Snape was hyper aware of his surroundings.

The cover was bare, no markings visible on the blue cloth-like material. When she opened the cover, the pages were covered with text. Taking a moment to read some of the text, Hermione realized it was a story. Not just any story, though.

It was a muggle romance novel!

Hermione had to sit down after that discovery. No wonder the Professor was captivated, he was probably in the middle of a raunchy sex scene!

Unsure whether she should feel scandalized or curiously turned on, Hermione stared at the open novel in her hands.

Professor Snape, of all wizards, read muggle fiction… romance novels, at that!

She was floored, but in an interesting way. Hermione Granger now saw Professor Severus Snape in a whole new light. A very nice, curious light.

The whole encounter put a damper on Hermione's focus. She forced herself to continue her research for an hour and, somehow, she was able to complete most of her work in that time.

It appeared that Professor Vector gave them a not too difficult assignment for her students first try. Hermione had enough material from just three of the books she found to finish her analysis on her own - at a time when she had more focus!

For the moment, Hermione returned the books to their proper place on the shelves and packed up her things.

As she left the library, Hermione was completely unable to get the image of Professor Snape sprawled on a chair in front of a fire reading his muggle novel.

She wondered if that was how the Professor actually read or if he sat proper at his desk. Either way, the image was provocative.

Knowing that she had to return the book to him, Hermione set off for the dungeons. She only hoped that the Professor was in his office. Though part of her also hoped that he wasn't.

* * *

><p>Severus Snape was camped out behind his desk, blankly staring at the desktop before him.<p>

He had accidentally left his novel with the pile of books that he picked up for Miss Granger.

No good deed went unpunished, as it were.

Bugger.

He lacked the required courage to march back down to the library and demand his coveted book back. Instead, he sat there, staring forlornly at his empty desk.

He sat that way for some time before he was startled by a knock at the door.

"Enter," he barked as he sat up straight and tucked his hair behind his ears.

In walked Hermione Granger with his book in her delicate little hands.

"Good evening, sir," she said pleasantly, approaching his desk with purpose. "I found this with the pile of books that you picked up for me in the library and thought I would return it promptly."

There was no judgement in her eyes, for which Severus Snape was grateful. He supposed that she did not open the book to figure it out what it was, though that would be very unlike the inquisitive little creature he knew her to be.

"I appreciate that, Miss Granger," he replied gruffly.

Their fingers brushed as he reached to take the book from her grasp. There was that sharp tingle again, which disturbed him greatly.

He had no idea what that was about, but whatever it was, he did not like it.

He especially did not like the odd look in Miss Granger's eyes after the exchange. Shifting uncomfortably, he resorted to his usual snide manner.

"If that is all, you may remove yourself from my presence at once," he snapped.

Seemingly unperturbed, Miss Granger nodded and left.

Severus felt the tension in his shoulders and neck release the moment the door shut behind the young witch. He felt so uncomfortable in the witch's presence lately and it worried him.

Making the concerted effort to banish Hermione Granger from his mind just as he did from his office, Severus Snape stood and moved from his desk to the very comfortable recliner placed in front of the hearth.

An evening spent in front of the rolling flames with a tumbler of cognac and his book would serve him very well.

Little did he know that his evening ritual was exactly as Hermione Granger imagined.

* * *

><p>Hermione went back to her rooms, fed and cuddled poor, neglected Crookshanks, then settled into her favorite settee with her Nano parchment and the self-inking quill.<p>

She stared into the fire for some time, just thinking over the events of the day. First, the strange dream, then when she caught Professor Snape staring at her blankly during breakfast, and finally the strange encounter in the library.

She still could not comprehend the fact that Professor Snape was a closet muggle romance novel affionnado. It was just so… surreal.

Perhaps she could use these events and discoveries in her story somehow. It was just a matter of how and when in the story timeline they would fit.

Hermione sat for a while, brainstorming ideas until she came up with a viable plan.

She would write some scenes for much later in the story and see how they worked out. If it was successful, then she would focus on different scenes as the motivation and ideas came to her.

No one said she had to be a linear writer, right? After all, Gone With the Wind was written from the end backwards. It was all just the author's prerogative.

With that thought in mind, Hermione jumped several years in her story timeline and began writing.

_The students were just returning from the winter holidays and the Great Hall was awash with boisterous children bragging about their Christmas loot._

_Harmony had spent her holidays at the castle since her parents were off gallivanting around the world without a care. She did not mind despite the fact that since she was sent off to Pigbumps, her parents seemed to have forgotten that they were still, in fact, parents._

_No matter, she had enjoyed the peace and quiet of the empty castle. Only a handful of students stayed behind this year and the much of the staff had taken mini breaks as well._

_The library had become her little haven. She even managed to charm one of the windows to have a bench seat with the softest cushion she could conjure. Harmony spent hours seated on the bench watching the snow fall outside and reading whatever book had piqued her interest. _

_One particular day, Harmony had been sitting there gazing out at the snow covered grounds when she spotted Professor Snark making his way from the Forest of No Return. It appeared that he was carrying a bushel of rooted plants that Harmony surmised were potions ingredients._

_The Professor's usually pristine black robes were covered in dusty white snow and his pale cheeks were suffused with a pinkish glow._

_Harmony stared in awe. The wizard actually appeared happy and it was quite… appealing._

_As he neared the castle, Professor Snark noticed Harmony staring down at him from one of the library windows._

_Knowing she was caught, Harmony froze wide-eyed. Instead of being on the receiving end of a scowl or hex, as she surely thought she would be, Harmony merely watched in shock as the Professor smiled at her._

_Smiled! Professor Snark! _

_She had to blink several times to be sure that she was not hallucinating. Sure enough. Professor Snark continued to smile as he reached the front steps of the castle._

_From that moment, Harmony began to see him a little differently. Every time she encountered the Professor during the holidays, he was pleasant and almost engaging. He didn't snark, sneer, smirk, or scowl. He simply smiled pleasantly._

_One evening during the evening meal, Harmony was running late and the only seat left at the small table was directly across from Professor Snark. She greeted him as she did the rest of the table's occupants and even offered him a friendly smile._

_That evening he shocked her even more by actually making pleasant conversation with her in particular. He asked about her studies and what direction she was headed after graduation from Pigbumps. _

_Thrilled at the opportunity to converse with such and intelligent wizard, Harmony asked about his studies when he was in school and if he always wanted to be a professor. She inquired about professional certifications and publications. _

_They chatted during the whole meal and even welcomed some of the surrounding professors into their conversations. _

_It was a most pleasant experience and it set Harmony's senses reeling. She now saw her professor as a wizard, a man, and not just an autonomous professor._

_Conversation with him greatly interested and intrigued her so much that she found herself actively desiring his company… and desiring HIM._

_Th three evening meals after that she purposefully sat near Professor Snark so that she could engage him. It quickly became her favorite part of the day and she dreaded when school would be in session again. She feared that he would revert back to his usual demeanor once the other students arrived and classes resumed._

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter is in need of a quick read through and edit, but it should be up this weekend.<strong>


	8. Boys Will Be Boys

**Hermione Granger Does NaNo WriMo**

**Chapter 8 - Boys Will Be Boys**

* * *

><p><em>When she sat down next to her friends at the Gallywag table in the Great Hall, Harmony snuck a glance at the High Table and her heart dropped.<em>

_Professor Snark was definitely back to his usual scowling and sneering. He was making a particularly nasty face at the rather loud students at the Hinkypunk table. Harmony found herself feeling bereft of her fledgling pseudo-friendship with him._

_Just as she was about to hide her disappointment and turn back to her friends, Professor Snark turned and met her gaze. He offered barely a quirk of his lips but it was enough to put Harmony at ease._

_Unable to contain herself, she smile broadly and tilted her head in acknowledgement before turning back to the table to grab some food before the others devoured everything._

* * *

><p>Hermione read through the passage she just spent an hour writing. She was definitely putting some of her own pent up feelings into this story. She was satisfied with the scene and she could not refuse her muse when it motivated her.<p>

Her writing was progressing quickly even though she was sure half of it was utter gobshite. No matter, she thought. The point of November was to write until one's fingers nearly fell off and she was doing just that. Editing would come later and at a more refined pace.

Deciding to call it a night, Hermione packed away her roll of parchment and her makeshift typewriter. Perhaps she would take a nice relaxing soak in the bath to allow her mind and body to unwind.

Hermione went all out to set up the most relaxing atmosphere she could think of - candles and aromatherapy, bath salts in the hot water, inflated pillow to rest her head upon.

Happily stripping off her school uniform, she ambled into the delightfully warm water and sank back into a lounging position. She had just closed her eyes when the pounding on the door began.

Practically springing from the bath in an annoyed panic, Hermione grabbed the nearest thing to wrap around her - it was a blue satin robe with little yellow ducks dancing on it. Very becoming, she mocked herself.

Hermione yanked the door open as the banging continued and came face to face with Draco Malfoy, Head Boy.

"Nice attire," the blonde drawled, his eyes running up and down her body.

"Get to the point, perve," Hermione snapped, putting her hands on her hips. The movement caused her robe to fall open without her realizing it.

Draco's eyes widened dramatically and he smirked, causing Hermione to look down. She snapped the robe closed swiftly just as a deep chuckle sounded from beyond Draco.

Startled and embarrassed, Hermione groaned and looked up to see Professor Snape standing there with a nasty smirk on his face.

"Oh dear, it appears I just missed the show," he said silkily.

Hermione flushed and tightened her robe even more. She went from embarrassed to mortified in a flash.

Draco Malfoy desperately tried to contain his laughter and failed miserably, which just made Hermione feel worse.

Of course, all she could do was stand there dumbly, blushing until she thought her ears and neck would melt from the heat.

Thankfully for Hermione, Professor Snape still had enough sense even though he probably just saw her mostly naked body.

"Please let us in and we will wait in the main room while you put on something more… appropriate," the Professor murmured, quirking a brow at the dancing ducks.

Hermione stood lamely as Professor Snape brushed past Malfoy and just pushed his way into her rooms, quickly followed by Draco Malfoy.

She stared blankly out into the hallway, wondering how her day had turned to such shit. Shaking her head sharply, Hermione inhaled deeply and straightened her shoulders before marching back into the main room. She stormed past the two smirking wizards and slammed her bedroom door.

Casting a quick muffliato, Hermione screamed maniacally for several minutes. When she was through, Hermione tugged on some more suitable clothing - muggle jeans and a jumper - before storming back into the sitting room.

Staring down the two smirking wizards, Hermione settled into the seat farthest from them. After a few moments of silence, she rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Would either of you like to tell me what you are doing in my room at this hour or would you rather continue to sit here in silence?"

Professor Snape chuckled darkly at her haughty attitude before turning serious. "We have a quandary on our hands thanks to those dunderheads you call friends, Miss Granger."

"What have they done now?" she asked warily.

Suddenly, Hermione realized how out of the loop she was with all of her free time spent writing. She had no idea that there was anything for the boys to get wrapped up in since things had been so quiet.

Her gaze went back and forth between Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy as they remained silent for several minutes. She was beginning to lose her patience with those two. If one of them did not get to the point soon, she was going to lose her cool in front of a professor.

"Apparently, Messrs. Potter and Weasley decided to take it upon themselves to sneak out to Hogsmeade for a little post-game celebration," Professor Snape explained.

Hermione shook her head - typical, stupid boys.

"They were at the Hogshead Inn getting pissed when a couple of rogue Death Eaters decided to pop in for a pint and some entertainment," Draco chimed in.

Hermione stared at him, open-mouthed, as she processed the information. Stupid boys!

"Thank you, Draco, for so aptly explaining what happened," Professor Snape drawled. "Needless to say, a battle broke out and the two dunderheads somehow managed to survive. Barely. They're both in the hospital wing, yet again."

"Oh Merlin," Hermione gasped, already on her feet and moving for the door.

Professor Snape stopped her before she reached the end of the settee.

"Miss Granger… Hermione," he murmured with a quick glance at Draco Malfoy to keep him from remarking. He turned back to the girl before him and proceeded to break the rest of the news to her. "They were badly injured in the attack and Madam Pomfrey will not allow any visitors."

"Oh," Hermione mumbled as she nearly sunk to the ground. If not for Professor Snape grasping her with both hands and moving to the couch, she would have been a pile of limbs on the floor.

She would ring both their necks once Madam Pomfrey allowed visitors. She hated knowing that they did something stupid and got themselves hurt but she was more worried at how injured they were. There was nothing she could do for them except worry and worry she did.

Excusing Draco from the room with a nod, Professor Snape continued to explain the situation to Hermione in a soft, measured voice. In a very uncharacteristic fashion, he maintained a firm grasp on her right hand, knowing that his voice and the minimal contact would keep her calm.

As annoying as the chit could be, he felt a growing concern for her well-being. Not just now, but almost all the time. He was not going to leave her worried and alone after delivering such news.

Instead, he stayed right where he was and spoke in his softest voice until he felt the heavy weight of her head on his shoulder and knew she had finally fallen asleep.

* * *

><p><em>Warmth… tingling skin… soft hair… herbal scent…<em>

* * *

><p>Hermione awoke with a start, confused as to why she was on the couch. She tried to move but there was a heavy weight on her.<p>

Perhaps it was time to put Crookshanks on a diet, he was becoming very heavy.

She shifted a bit to dislodge the fat half-kneazle but he didn't move. "Come on, you fat, hairy beast, I wanna get up."

There was a shift in the weight and Hermione fully opened her eyes in shock. It was not Crookshanks keeping her from moving, it was Professor Snape.

She gasped and froze as the events of the evening before came back to her. She was in awe of the fact that he stayed with her until she fell asleep and even fell asleep himself.

Hermione really liked this side of her Professor - the side that was human and understanding of other people's struggles. It was wholly unlike his normal behavior and it made her feel special to be on the receiving end of such concern.

She stayed still, thinking about how he told her every detail of what happened to Harry and Ron last night. He even refrained from insulting them, most of the time.

Hermione knew that she over-reacted last night - she was worried for her friends and frustrated that she could do nothing for them, which resulted in her breaking down into shock and worry. At least she didn't cry hysterically or anything. She just went silent.

Relaxing back into the warm weight at her side, Hermione ended up falling back to sleep to thoughts of the man next to her.

When she woke up some time later, she found that she was in her own bed and Professor Snape was long gone. She laid there and thought about Severus Snape - he was slowly shifting from Professor to Severus in her mind, whether she wanted him to or not.

* * *

><p>Hermione made her way to the Hospital Wing with the intent to see her friends and to ream them out for being so utterly idiotic, but she was stopped by Professor McGonagall on her way.<p>

"Miss Granger, dear, there you are!" Professor McGonagall called from down the hall.

"Professor?" Hermione inquired as she turned and headed back towards the Transfiguration teacher.

"I just wanted to make sure that Professor Snape was not too unpleasant," the older witch explained. "It was my intention to notify you myself, but the Headmaster needed my assistance at the Hogshead Inn."

"Oh," Hermione blurted, immediately embarrassed by the memory of last night and then this morning. She recovered herself quickly to avoid any questioning looks from her Professor.

"Professor Snape was quite… I'm not sure of the right word to use, but he wasn't any worse than usual," Hermione stated plainly.

She did not want to get Professor Snape in trouble with Professor McGonagall one way or the other. The truth would have raised suspicion and she did not want to lie too unnecessarily.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect him to be anything more or less," Professor McGonagall replied thin-lipped. "I suppose he informed you of the situation with Potter and Weasley?"

"Yes, Professor, I know that they got themselves into a right mess and that they were badly injured."

Professor McGonagall nodded sadly.

"I know that you must be worried sick, but they are still being treated as critical. Madam Pomfrey won't allow any visitors for a few days. She expects a full recovery, so do not worry, they will be fine. And maybe a little smarter for the experience."

"I understand, Professor," Hermione said earnestly. "If you happen to see them when they are awake, please let them know that I will visit as soon as I'm allowed."

Professor McGonagall smiled sadly and nodded. "I'm sure you have more than enough work to keep your mind off the situation. A few days will pass before you know it and those two will be back to making trouble in no time. "

Hermione chuckled with her favorite professor and it felt good. The two of them spoke for a few more minutes before the Professor informed Hermione that she was excused from classes for the day. They both knew that Hermione was so far ahead in her studies that she could miss a day of class with no problem.

Bidding the Transfiguration professor good day, Hermione headed in the direction of the Great Hall She was less worried for the boys now - they were in good hands with Madam Pomfrey and speaking with Professor McGonagall always made her feel better.

Knowing there was nothing else she could do, Hermione went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She planned to spend the rest of her unexpected free day working on her writing. It would keep her mind off of the boys and she now had plenty of motivating thoughts to incorporate into her story thanks to Professor Snape.


End file.
